


If I Ever Say I Need You (will you stay?)

by Louiscuddlesharry



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, F/M, Hurt Louis, M/M, Past Rape/Non-con, Popular Harry, This Was Supposed To Be A One Shot, i dont know what happened, i promise its not as cliche as it sounds, writing still in progress
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-08-26
Updated: 2013-09-01
Packaged: 2018-01-05 21:34:02
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 6,681
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1098835
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Louiscuddlesharry/pseuds/Louiscuddlesharry
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Louis snaps himself out of his rapidly descending thoughts back to the person in the room, whose sitting on a bed looking at him with wide eyes. And oh. Wide <i>green</i> eyes. And Louis may be slightly drunk, but he definitely knows those eyes. And great. <i>Harry</i> just saw him overreact and panic just because he heard somebody crying, and he probably thinks he’s a total freak now and now <i>Louis</i> feels like crying and <i> why the fuck hasn’t he gone home yet?</i></p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> so this was supposed to be a one shot but I like it too much so let's see where it goes x

Harry didn’t enter Louis’ life with a flash or a bang. There were no fireworks or any instant connection or love at first sight. Harry was kind of like the drums in a song to Louis for a while. He didn’t ever really notice him or appreciate him until he truly paused and focused on _him_. He was a bit like background noise. 

And it wasn’t until Louis paused and focused on him that he realized that he was worth the time. Because Harry may have been hot and yes, Louis may have been very much gay and Harry very much bi but Louis had learned by now. The pretty ones hurt more. Mainly because they _know_. They know they could have you replaced in a couple of hours and it had happen to Louis enough times to know to stay away from the confident ones. And let’s be honest, anyone as pretty as Harry would become confident fairly quickly if he wasn’t already.

But Harry. He seemed to be something else entirely. Something completely uncharted in the unestablished-but-very-much-there social classes in his high school. He was a star player on the footie team which sent off immediate warning bells in Louis head, as stereotypical as it seemed. But hey, experience was to blame for that.

But he was on the footie team and got bumped into a locker by someone who would typically be classified as a ‘nerd’. Normally that would be the equivalent to a high school death sentence, but no. Harry smiled at the guy. _Smiled_. Smiled at being knocked into a locker by someone he was stereotypically allowed treat like trash. Apparently Harry Styles didn’t obey stereotypes or laws of society.

That alone made him interesting enough for Louis to investigate. 

And by Louis’ standards, investigate basically meant Perrie. Perrie Edwards, his long-time best friend who was sweet enough to listen to him rant about his recent infatuations. Not that Harry would ever be Louis’ infatuation. Of course not. It’s just that Louis didn’t _get_ this boy. How could someone value their own happiness so much and at the same time, try (and succeed) to make everyone else happy? That just seemed impossible.

Especially for some sophomore high school jock that really should have top priorities like partying or doing whatever it is popular guys did. Really, it would save Louis a lot of pondering, which was something he really didn’t enjoy. Especially if it concerned dangerously hot high school boys. Because really, he’d had enough of those after about half of his relationships with them ended by being cheated on. Not the best feeling that.

But he’d questioned Harry’s actions so much that he was starting to test _Perrie’s_ patience, which was really not an easy thing. It got to the point to where he was talking to her almost every day about him, while trying to convince himself that that wasn't creepy.

"But Pezza," he said, perching on the end of her bed, "you should have seen what he did today. It was-"

"Ok Louis! Ok I get it, you like the boy, I've got it. Why don't you do something about it already?!"

Louis furrowed his eyebrows at her. "Like what?"

"Oh I don't know," she started sarcastically, "Try fucking _talking to him_.

"Umm," Louis said nervously, "I really don't think that’s-"

"Louis! You need to do _something_!

"But whyyy? It's so much easier to just watch," he whined.

"Louis that's creepy."

"But it’s safer. I can't get hurt if I don't get close," Louis tried teasing in a sing song voice.

Perrie sighed before opening her arms wide. "Come here Lou." He huffed before crawling into her arms and she realised he was shaking. "Babe," she said sadly, "not everybody is going to hurt you. You've just got to get over the one that already did." 

"Which one?" Louis mumbled. 

Perrie sighed before squeezing him tighter. "All of them. Really Lou, Harry seems nice and I think you could use someone nice. Plus, he’s really all you’ve been talking about lately." 

Louis squeezed her once before backing out of the hug. "Nah. Even if we did start talking, you’d hear about him even more. Besides, you're nice. I can just have you."

Perrie laughed, "I don't think Zayn would appreciate that, love."

Louis scowled, "Well Zayn can deal with it. I'm the one that set you two up in the first place, he owes me a little ‘Lou and Pezza time’."

“Oh, look at you getting all possessive,” Perrie teased. “Now help me choose an outfit for that party tonight. You are still going right?” she asked, eyeing his current sweatpants and t-shirt.

“Yeah I’m still going and I figured we could stop by mine on the way so I can get ready.”

“Ok great. Now help me pleaseee,” she whined playfully.

Louis sighed before dryly reminding her, “Just because I’m your gay best friend does not mean you get to use me for your fashion needs.”

“Oh please,” she said dismissively, “you wouldn’t have it any other way. Now do you think this matches?”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

After a quick drive to Louis’ place and a lot of hair product for Louis’ new quiff style he’s got going, they arrive at the party. Louis has seen bigger before, but it’s one of the first high school parties of the year so there are still a lot of people there. This one is being hosted by a junior named Ryan, who Louis is pretty sure he has chemistry with this year. But it’s a two story house and judging by the splashing noises in the back yard, there is most definitely a pool. Louis can also practically smell the weed and alcohol from here. This will definitely be one of those memory making parties, he notes with a grin.

The party goes in a blur and Louis isn’t sure if it’s from the shitty beer he’s been drinking since he got here or if it’s just one of those kind of nights. But either way, he’s still shocked when he gets a glimpse of a clock and sees that it reads 01:27 and wow, ok _that was quick_

The first thing he realises when he gets upstairs is that there doesn’t seem to be a big, open room anywhere. There’s just a hall with some (closed) doors lining it that look like bedrooms and, judging by the noises coming from the rooms, his guess seems pretty accurate. Louis is walking down the hall towards the large balcony at the end of the hall to check out the backyard, when he hears a noise in one of the rooms that sounds suspiciously like a muffled sob.

He hesitates because well, he doesn’t want to end up being a shoulder to cry on tonight but what if someone is getting hurt? What if someone is _hurt_? Louis has been there and it’s not fun and ok, he really needs to make sure that person is ok.

Louis hesitantly knocks on the door and listens for anything, for _something_ because he really hopes he’s just being paranoid. “Everything okay in there?” he quietly calls out.

”Um, yeah,” a small voice answers, “Everything’s fine.” Louis thinks that voice sounds vaguely familiar, but with the amount of alcohol he’s had, he’s not too sure of many things by now. Just of the fact that someone in there is crying and they sound so _sad_ and a voice like that should never sound sad and ok he’s drank a little too much.

“Hey I’m coming in ok?” Louis says, reaching for the door handle and not bothering to wait for a response. When he finds the courage to open the door, he isn’t nearly as scared of what’s on the other side as he thought he’d be. There’s only one person in the room, for starters. Louis breathes out a sigh of relief at that and allows himself to close his eyes for a few seconds and calm down because he’s not sure what he would’ve done if he had happened to walk in on someone being hurt. Or how we would’ve reacted and yeah, probably wouldn’t be very good especially considering that one party when-. No. _No._

Louis snaps himself out of his rapidly descending thoughts back to the person in the room, whose sitting on a bed looking at him with wide eyes. And oh. Wide _green_ eyes. And Louis may be slightly drunk, but he definitely knows those eyes. And great. _Harry_ just saw him overreact and panic just because he heard somebody crying, and he probably thinks he’s a total freak now and now _Louis_ feels like crying and _why the fuck hasn’t he gone home yet?_

“Oh my god, I’m so sorry. I’ll just leave yeah? Sorry for intruding or whatever this is,” Louis rushed. The sooner he gets this out, the faster he can leave. “I’m just gonna…yeah,” he ended awkwardly, gesturing towards the door, “I’ll see you at school. Yeah, umm bye.”

Louis quickly leaves the room and shuts the door behind him, supressing the urge to slide down it. The rational part of his brain is currently screaming at him and he has a long search to find Perrie to tell her he’s leaving. And that whole time is going to be spent feeling stupid as fuck, without a doubt. _Because wow what a first impression, great going Louis. Now Harry thinks you’re over reactive _and_ psychotic and this night just keeps getting better and better doesn’t it._

Louis eventually finds Perrie and tells her he’s going to go and makes sure Zayn is still getting her home (or taking her home, either way). After that’s taken care of, he gets a taxi to his house and realises how many advantages there are from moving out of his parents’ place a few months ago because it has to be around 3 a.m. by now.

It isn’t until Louis has thrown himself in his bed, that he realises that he told Harry that he’d see him at school and, regardless of how much Louis thinks about Harry, Harry doesn’t even know Louis. At all. There’s a good chance he’d never even noticed Louis before tonight. Louis lets out a groan and goes to bed with the knowledge that the one person he had even an ounce of hope in, thinks he’s a complete freak.


	2. Chapter 2

Waking up the next morning was not the highlight of Louis’ day. He didn’t get completely smashed last night, but he did drink enough to feel like shit in the morning. He eventually dragged himself out of bed to grab some pain pills and threw on the cleanest clothes he saw, before getting his keys and phone and driving to the nearest diner. He ordered the greasiest breakfast food he saw and gave a wary sigh before pulling out his phone.

He only had two messages, which was a bit of a relief. The first was from Perrie asking what his plans were for today, to which he replied with something along the lines of _absolutely nothing. Want to come feel like shit with me?_. The second was from Niall, his current lab partner, who was a great lad but always seemed so _happy_. He always had a smile on and was really bubbly and Louis could not deal with that while having a hangover. Thankfully, it was only him reminding Louis that he needed to finish his part of their assignment from Friday. Louis actually smiled a bit as he sent back a _already finished it mate_ because for once it was true. He’d actually done it before he went partying, knowing it wouldn’t get done the next day.

He got a message from Perrie telling him _be at mine in 20_ so, after finishing his food, he found himself back in his car and driving to her house. When he got there he let himself in with the key she had given him for situations like this, and locked the door again before going to her room and collapsing on the bed beside her.

"I’m never drinking again,” he moaned, burrowing further in the covers.

"You say that every time,” Perrie reminded him, sounding amused.

"You sound too happy,” Louis complained, “Why are you so happy? Wait, did you even drink last night?”

"Not as much as you did obviously,” she laughed, ignoring Louis’ pained expression, “and I actually only had a couple drinks. Had to keep up with Zayn didn’t I? ”

“Not fair,” Louis mumbled, before freezing. “Wait I wasn’t with you guys, was I? Oh god, I just assumed I was and- holy shit. No. No. No. No. _Please_ tell me I didn’t,” he groaned, memories from last night flooding his mind.

Perrie looked at him amusedly and if there was a hint of concern, then Louis chose to ignore it. “Didn’t do what?”

“Talked to Harry,” he groaned, “I talked to Harry.”

Perrie shot him a confused look. “I’m not seeing why that’s so bad?”

Louis sighed before explaining, “Because I heard someone crying in one of the bedrooms and went in because…you know. And Harry was in there crying and I probably looked freaked out just because I heard someone crying and he’s going to think I’m a total freak now. _Plus_ I told him I’d talk to him at school and he’s probably never even seen me before and now I seem creepy as well. There went any microscopic chance I had.” Louis finished his rant and slowly let the duvet of the bed smother him again.

Perrie sighed before motioning Louis closer. “Come on. You sound in need of a cuddle.” She waited for him to attempt to curl up in her arms (he may be small, but he was still bigger than her) before speaking. “Lou, you had every right to panic and he may not know that but it doesn’t matter, because you did the right think ok? And if he does think you’re a creep or freak, then at least you know that he’s a judgemental asshole and won’t have to find that out the hard way. He’s also a year younger than you so you probably won’t see him very much anyway.”

Louis nodded against her and whispered, “Ok…but he’s really smart so we do have a couple classes together since he’s ahead.”

“Hey, it’ll be fine yeah? If he does say anything about it, just be your crazy, fun self and he won’t think you’re any more weird than you actually are,” she teased gently.

Louis let out a quiet laugh. “Yeah, ok. Good plan. I don’t even know why this is getting to me so much. I didn’t even talk to the kid until last night and that was only a few words. And it was a bit…one sided.”

Perrie looked down at him with a sad smile. “We’re all allowed to have hope in people, even if they’re strangers.”

“Unfortunately, I think you’re right,” Louis sighed. “Now enough moping for the day. I’m going to be extremely disappointed in you if you don’t have any Yorkshire here because I could really use a cuppa.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

The next morning Louis woke up and was dreading going to school even more than usual. School meant Harry and for once, Louis was not looking forward to seeing the boy at all. Because for once, he might actually have to interact with him. Louis shuddered a bit at that because honestly, Harry was intimidating. Not a big or mean kind of intimidating, but on a more personal level. Not to mention he was popular. Louis knew from experience that popular people could start almost any rumour they wanted to if they played it up well.

Louis rode to school in silence after discovering that the radio was not helping his nervousness at all. He felt a bit ridiculous, letting something that _might_ happen get to him this much but he couldn’t help it. This was _Harry_. Harry who had witnessed him have a breakdown and near panic attack just because he heard someone _crying_. Jesus, he needed to get some control over himself.

His first two classes flew by uneventfully, but then again it wasn’t until his third class that he’d see Harry. He cautiously walked into the room of his third class, feeling every bit as ridiculous as he most likely looked. It only took him a few seconds to scan the class and realise that Harry wasn’t there, and probably wouldn’t be there in time for any conversation. Louis wasn’t sure if he was more relieved or disappointed, as he was sure to feel paranoid about this until it was talked about or at least mentioned. Letting out a sigh, Louis took a seat at his usual desk towards the back of the class (because really who wants to sit up front during _history_?).

It wasn’t until a couple minutes before class would start that Harry arrived. Louis felt his nerves kick in as soon as he saw the boy and was relieved when Harry walked towards his own desk and kept a safe distance from Louis. Louis found that he couldn’t take his eyes off Harry now that he was here, and felt a jolt of shock as Harry suddenly made eye contact with him and sent him a small smile. Louis quickly looked away, his face surely bright red, and shifted his eyes to the ground to be sure he didn’t get caught watching the boy again. Louis absentmindedly heard the teacher began class as he wondered _What the hell was _that_ about?._


	3. Chapter 3

The rest of the day passed without anything interesting happening and really, Louis was confused. This was not how it was supposed to go, or rather, not how he had expected it to go. Not that he was complaining very much, but he expected Harry to say something by now. (But then, that _was_ a bit too cliché for Louis liking, and he _really_ needed to stop giving in to Perrie’s movie decisions. After all, a man could only handle so many chick flicks.) And now Harry kept _smiling_ at him and what did that even mean? He knew what a smile meant of course, but Harry was supposed to be thinking he was some freak or weirdo or something and really, _smiling_?

(Even if Harry had the friendliest smile Louis had let himself appreciate in a long time.) 

By the end of the day, Harry still hadn’t said anything and Louis decided to just try to forget about it and pretend nothing had happened in the first place. Louis got in his car and sent a text to Perrie letting her know that nothing had happened and that he was just going to go straight to his place after school today. Louis went home and, deciding his homework wasn’t worth the effort (as per usual), went straight to his bed to get some sleep.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

Louis woke up the next morning feeling slightly better than the day before and went through his usual routine. He even had enough time to stop at a café to pick up a quick breakfast and tea to go, and still make it to school on time. His good mood lasted until he got to history, his third and least favourite class.

Everything was fine (as fine as history can be at least) until the class was over and the teacher (Mr. Baxter, Louis thinks but he never really bothered to learn his name) calls for Louis to stay behind after class. Louis fights his rising panic because this teacher never liked him, but he’s been getting average grades on all of his exams so there shouldn’t be anything to worry about.

“Mr. Tomlinson,” the teacher calls, just as Louis was packing up his things, hoping maybe the teacher had forgotten.

“Yes sir?” Louis called cautiously.

“Come here for a moment please. I need you to take a look at something that I found a bit interesting.”

“Um ok,” Louis replied hesitantly, before slinging his bag over his shoulder and walking over to the man’s desk.

“I was looking at the class averages yesterday, Mr. Tomlinson, and I saw that you are currently failing this class.”

“What?! No, I’m sorry, but that’s not possible. I haven’t gotten anything below a high C on my exams.”

“Yes I know, but you haven’t turned in homework in weeks. If you don’t make it all up, there’s a good chance that you will fail this class,” he informed Louis.

Louis let out a sigh before replying, “Ok, I still have the work at home. I’ll finish it and have it done as soon as I can.”

“Good. I’ll give you two weeks to have it turned in. Also, I forgot to mention that the new school program requires me to assign a tutor to anyone that’s failing to make sure they get some help. Normally, I would let you choose, but with your behaviour record I don’t think that’s the best idea so I’m assigning you someone myself. I’ve taken a look at the other averages and Harry Styles has the highest in the class. He’s a great lad, and he’ll be able to help you if you actually need it, but I honestly think this issue is simply due to laziness,” the teacher said disapprovingly.

Louis blushed from the scolding tone the teacher was using (and maybe because Harry was going to help him, but nobody had to know that). “I’m sorry sir. I’ll be sure to work on that as soon as I can.”

“Great. I’ve already informed Mr. Styles and he told me to ‘please have you meet him after school in the library if you were able to’.”

“Yeah I can do that. Thank you for letting me do this sir.”

“It’s no problem, just don’t make me regret it yeah? Now, you better get to your next class before you’re late. I’ll write you a note just in case and I’ll trust that you’ll won’t misuse it?” With a nod from Louis, the teacher wrote out a tardy pass and handed it to him before dismissing him.

It wasn’t until Louis was in the now empty school hall, that he allowed himself to start panicking. _Because oh my god Harry, and he’ll probably have to be with Harry, and he might have to be _alone_ with Harry and- No._ Louis took a deep breath and tried to subtly calm himself down, because he was still at school after all. Besides, nothing would happen. Harry seemed okay and he’d always have his phone on him and let Perrie know when he was going. And he’d never be _alone_ with Harry anyways; he’d be able to avoid that right?

Louis eventually got himself under some semblance of control and got to his next class, where he did his best to not look like he almost just had a panic attack in the hall. The rest of the day was uneventful (thank god, Louis wasn’t sure how much more of this confrontation stuff he could take), and it wasn’t until he was in the student parking lot, that he realised that he had to go to the library. To meet Harry. Right. He could do this.

Call him ridiculous, but he walked as slowly as he could to the library without being too late. In fact, by the time he walked through the double doors he found that Harry had already sat down at a table with his things spread out around him. He casually (not casually at all) walked up to the table and stood there hesitantly. “Um hi. I’m Louis.”


	4. Chapter 4

“Oh, hey. I’m Harry. Nice to meet you,” he smiled and how was he constantly so _nice_?

“Um I think we’ve met before?” Louis squeaked, not sure if Harry even remembered what happened at the party. He could’ve been completely drunk, or even high, for all Louis knew. He needed to remember that he didn’t know Harry at all, regardless of if it felt like he did.

“Oh yeah, from Ryan’s party right? Sorry about that by the way, that probably was a little worrying considering the erm, situation,” he said, sounding a little ashamed.

“Oh,” Louis started slowly, because why was _he_ apologising, “it’s no problem. Sorry if I interrupted something, I just panicked a little. Must be the big brother in me,” he laughed nervously.

“Big brother huh?” Harry asked, motioning for Louis to sit in the chair next to him, “I’ve only got an older sister and she’s away for school right now.”

”Yeah, four younger sisters actually. But they’re back in Doncaster,” Louis informed him, trying to casually sit as far away as he could from the boy.

Harry raised his eyebrows at him, before continuing to take out all of his books from his bag. “That’s quite the drive from London isn’t it?”

“Yeah I guess I just really needed a new start. Moving seemed like the best way,” Louis explained shakily, while desperately looking for a subject change. This was not going in the right direction. “So, Mr. Baxter told me that I needed to finish all of my extra work and there are a few things I think I’m going to need help with, if it’s ok with you.”

“Yeah that’s fine. History is my best subject, as boring as it is, so I should be able to help,” he told Louis with him a smile. “Now I was thinking that we could come over to my house this weekend and get some of it done?”

Louis froze as soon as he heard _‘my house’_ , because _alone_ , unless he had friends or family and that probably wouldn’t be much different from alone. “Um, I was actually thinking maybe a café or something. There’s a great one that I’ve been to that isn’t too well known, if you’d like to try it out?” Louis said, trying his hardest to keep his voice level.

Either Louis wasn’t as casual as thought or Harry was just a saint, but either way he agreed with a small smile (that seemed a little gentle, but Louis refused to get his hopes up) and said that that’d be fine. So after exchanging numbers (Louis was _not_ blushing, the library was just really warm) and agreeing to meet at the café tomorrow, they left the library with plans to start at least a little school work tomorrow. And even if they only talked the whole time tomorrow then, well, you wouldn’t hear Louis complaining.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

The next day Louis rolled out of bed and got ready, his nerves keeping him on edge the whole time. Today he would be with Harry. After school. So many things could go wrong. Louis shook his head a bit to clear his thoughts. Harry was nice, Perrie had said so herself and she was pretty good at reading people. But then _he_ seemed nice at first, but then- _no_. Everything would be fine. Besides, he’d only be seeing Harry a couple of times and he would let Perrie and Zayn know each time. It would be okay.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

Louis couldn’t really tell you what happened at school that day. All of his classes basically consisted of him mentally planning the rest of the day and unintentionally avoiding as much social interaction as possible, especially teachers. It may seem a bit dramatic, but Louis couldn’t find it in himself to care. He didn’t really trust guys too much anymore, not after _him_. He hadn’t been around a guy in months without friends there, so dating was unthinkable. He hasn’t even been able to hang out with Zayn without having Perrie come along, and he’d known Zayn for years. So as normal as this was for most people, meeting Harry later today would be a huge step for him. Nervous would be an understatement for him..

After school, Louis went over to Perrie’s since he still had a couple of hours before he would meet Harry. He hadn’t told Perrie yet considering he hadn’t been over to her house the last couple of days and he only had a couple of classes with her. And, sadly, he actually had to focus on the classes now so he couldn’t really tell her then because he had a feeling this would require an actual conversation.

“Hey Pezza!” he called, letting himself into her house after texting her to make sure she wasn’t busy.

Perrie looked up from where she was looking at her phone to call out a cheery “Hey Lou!”

“So…Guess who actually has plans today?” Louis questioned, covering any lingering nerves with a grin while taking a seat at her desk chair.

“Oh cool. Where are you going?” she asked uninterestedly, still typing out what Louis would guess was a text to Zayn.

Louis pouted. “You were supposed to guess. But I’m meeting up with Harry in a couple of hours,” he said trying to add some excitement into his voice.

Perrie froze, looking up from her phone. “You’re meeting up with Harry?” she deadpanned. She waited for a nod from Louis before continuing, “Meeting up with Harry, who is a guy, who is also taller than you and probably stronger than you.”

Louis paled and shifted uncomfortably from his spot in his chair “Um I have to? Mr. Baxter assigned him as my tutor. But we’re meeting at a café not at his house or anything,” he hurriedly added.

“Lou,” she started, looking at him worriedly, “I’m not above tagging along to a study session you know?”

Louis took a deep breath before thinking carefully over his next words. “No. No, I’m eighteen years old, I need to learn to get over myself. And it’s not like we’ll be alone at his place or anything, we’ll be in public and he seems like an okay lad. Besides, I’m smarter than I used to be. Seriously, it’s all good.”

“Louis, you were never stupid in the first place ok? You couldn’t control what happened then. And you’re allowed to be nervous or not be okay, this is a big deal. It doesn’t matter how old you are, you’re still healing yeah?” she reasoned gently.

“It happened two years ago, Pezza. I think my healing time is over now.”

“No, there’s not an ‘expiration date for healing’ or some shit. That was traumatic and you need time and that’s _okay_. If you want me to come with you then I will and he can just deal with it,” Perrie said.

“Really, I’ll be fine. I’ll have my phone on me and you’ll know that I’m there and it will all go good. I’ll come back to yours afterwards ok? And we’ll both laugh at how much we were overreacting,” Louis said, trying to convince himself as much as her.

Perrie sighed before saying, “Ok, fine. Call me if he lays a single finger on you alright?”

Louis smirked at her. “And you called me possessive.” Perrie gave him an unimpressed look. “Fine, fine. I’ll call you. You know that.”

Perrie shook her head and him and sighed. “Yeah I know. I just worry about you, you know? Now come over here, I want you to have cuddles before you have to go.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

Louis pulled up to the parking lot of the café and checked the time. He was about five minutes early and decided to go ahead and get a drink, obeying the little voice in his head telling him to not let Harry near his drink. He got in and ordered, offering a smile to the worker as he accepted his tea. He hesitated before moving to a table in the corner that was still relatively visible and dropping his school bag into one of the four chairs.

He was deciding on if he should go ahead and pull out some of his books, when he saw Harry walk through the door.


	5. Chapter 5

Louis watched as Harry looked around the café before he saw Louis and his eyes lit up as he made his way to the table he was sitting at.

“Hey Louis! I’m going to grab a drink and I’ll be right back. Do you want anything?” he said happily. He reminded Louis of a little kid as he stood there fidgeting like he couldn’t stay still, a wide smile on his face.

“Uh, no thanks. I went ahead and got some tea,” Louis said, managing to keep his voice level and gesturing to the cup in front of him. Harry’s excitement wasn’t exactly contagious to Louis, even if it certainly made him a little less anxious about the whole situation.

Harry nodded and practically bounced to the counter to order and sometimes Louis wondered how this kid was as popular as he was. This was one of those times (he was in _high school for god’s sake). But even if he seemed completely ridiculous, he didn’t seem threatening at all like this and it was helping Louis more than he would ever admit._

“Hello!” Harry said, causing Louis to jump a bit, having not noticed that he was already back at the table.

“Oh, that was fast,” Louis said, trying to quickly compose himself while offering Harry a small smile.

Harry hummed a little before shifting a little awkwardly. “Um do you want me to get your bag or…” he trailed off. Louis raised his eyebrows a bit and Harry clarified, “Sorry it’s just easier to show you things next to you rather than across from you. Kind of hard to learn upside down,” Harry said with a smile and yes, this one was definitely gentle.

“Oh,” Louis said because he didn’t really think about that. “Yeah I guess you’re right. Here,” he said moving his bag to the other side of him, since there was no room for it in between the two chairs.

Regardless of how quick and bubbly Harry was a few minutes ago, he sat down slowly (or at least slow for Harry) and Louis felt like hugging him for that. “So. History right?” Harry said reaching in his bag and pulling out some notes. “What parts do you need help on?”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

The whole thing was going pretty well, really. Louis was starting to ease up a little and was even laughing and joking around and Harry seemed to have made it is his goal to bring Louis out of his shell. They weren’t exactly best friends (yet, Louis couldn’t help but think), but Louis hadn’t been this relaxed around a guy in a couple of years and he couldn’t help but be hopeful.

“So Boo, you get it now?” Harry asked, receiving a glare from Louis. “Come on, it rhymed with Lou, I had to.” Louis made sure to intensify his glare. “Oh come on, don’t be like that,” Harry whined, before scooting closer to Louis and throwing his arms around him. He buried his head in Louis’ neck and nudged him before saying in a sing song voice “Louuuu”. 

Louis, however, was frozen in place, his breathing starting to pick up. “Harry,” he choked out, “please get off.”

Harry opened his mouth probably to continue teasing, before he frowned and moved back. “Louis,” he started hesitantly, “are you _shaking_?”

Louis tried to start slowing his breathing now that Harry wasn’t as close and breathed out shakily, “Just give me a second.”

Harry nodded before asking worriedly, “Anything I can do?”

”No, just. Don’t get too close yeah?”

Harry nodded before rushing out, “Yeah, yeah sure, no problem.” He waited a couple minutes until Louis looked relatively back to normal before starting, “So…want to explain what that was?”

“No. No, I’d rather not actually.”

“Louis,” he started warily.

“Please don’t,” Louis whispered, “Please.”

“Fine. Ok… But I’m here alright? I know you barely know me but if you ever want to talk, then I can be a good listener,” he said giving Louis another gentle smile.

“Thank you,” Louis breathed, relieved that he wouldn’t pry about what just happened.

“It’s no problem. Now do you want to keep going? If you want to just meet up again another day, then that’s fine with me.”

“No, we can stay here longer. Do you want a drink?” Louis asked quickly, obeying the voice telling him that he has to make Harry happy.

“Lou,” Harry said sadly, “you don’t have to stay. Let’s get you home ok? You drove here right?” When Louis answered with a nod Harry offered him a small smile. “I’ll walk you to your car.”

Harry was true to his word and even went as far as holding the door for Louis. When they got to Louis’ car Harry stood in front of him, looking hesitant. “I’d really like to hug you right now, but I can guess you probably wouldn’t like that too much.”

“Sorry,” Louis whispered, looking down.

“Hey,” Harry said, hand moving like he wanted to lift Louis’ chin but thinking better of it. “It’s not your fault. And it’s no big deal either okay? You’re still Louis and you seem like a great lad. If you’re not exactly the cuddly type, then well, that’s fine. I’ll just have to live with it won’t I?” Harry teased and it almost seemed _soft_.

Louis looked up a bit and offered him a shy smile. “Guess so.” He hesitated a bit before adding, “So…you’re ok with what just happened?”

“Yeah why wouldn’t I be? It’s not my business and like I said, you seem like a great lad. That didn’t change anything.”

“Thank you so much,” Louis said, not believing anyone could be this normal about him freaking out so much from a side hug.

“No problem, Lou. Go home yeah? Want to meet in the library after school tomorrow? Not for too long but you’ll probably be busy the next day since it’ll be Friday and all.”

“Yeah, sounds good. I’ll see you tomorrow then,” Louis said, starting to get in his car.

“Yeah, See you tomorrow.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

As soon as Louis was in his car he sent a text to Perrie letting her know that he was okay and coming to her house, before putting his phone away and driving in that direction. When he got there he let himself in and found that she was already waiting for him in her living room. She must have noticed how distant or lost he looked, because as soon as she saw him she gave a small noise of sympathy. Sympathy that was made at him not for him, Louis made sure to note (there was a big difference). She patted a spot on the couch next to her and waited for him to sit before holding her arms open. “Are hugs okay right now?”

Louis paused for a second wondering if he could even handle a hug right now and decided that yes, it’s Perrie, he’ll be fine. Louis gave a slow nod and she wrapped her arms around him like she was scared to let him go now that she was holding him. “You’re okay,” she practically cooed and normally he’d be offended but this was what he needed right now and he had a feeling she knew that. “He didn’t touch you did he?” she questioned protectively.

Louis nodded and felt her tense up so he hurriedly added, “Just innocently. Just a hug, it just caught me off guard and he was more than understanding about it.”

“Ok, I guess that’s alright,” she sighed, earning a nod and a quiet chuckle from Louis. “So over all how do you feel?”

Louis sighed, cuddling closer to her and gathering the courage to say the next words. This was an even bigger step and he was getting really sick of steps. “Hate to be dramatic, but like I either just started or ended something that could be amazing.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry I didn't include the whole study session but I really don't want to write about studying on break and that'd probably be too much dialogue anyway. But there will be more dialogue in later chapters I promiseee.


End file.
